Boris Johnson convinced voters he would ‘Get Brexit Done’ – now he has to decide how

The best way to take Brexit off the political and global economic agenda is for Johnson to persuade himself that leaving the EU Treaty is Brexit. But it is not

One of the more stupid clichés of the never-ending Brexit saga is that it will happen at the end of January. Ten times a day, Boris Johnson told voters in the December election in Britain they should “Get Brexit Done” by voting for him.

Certainly, the UK will cease to be a member of the EU Treaty on 31 January. Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York now running to be chosen as the Democratic Party’s candidate against Donald Trump, calls Brexit “the single stupidest thing any country has ever done”, but in Britain there is a resigned acceptance that on 1 February, Britain will no longer be part of the EU family of nations. The EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, arrives in London on Wednesday to open discussions between London and Brussels.

But that is still not Brexit. Norway is not a signatory member of the EU Treaty system but, de facto if not de jure, has most of the economic, trade and societal benefits of EU membership. Switzerland and the EU share a network of laws and mini-treaties that means there is close to open trade and free movement of goods, capital, services and people between Switzerland and its EU neighbours.

Boris Johnson has told his ministers that the word “Brexit” is now verboten in the British government’s vocabulary. They must talk about all the things that have not been done in Britain since the Brexit plebiscite of June 2016 and which need urgent attention. He is trying to reduce the profile of Brexit by saying the negotiations will be handled by officials in his office, not by a separate ministry.

The best way to take Brexit off the political and global economic agenda is for Johnson to persuade himself, his party and then the country that leaving the EU Treaty is Brexit. His task will be to lower the temperature and allow the next stage of negotiations to be technical, detailed, long-lasting and aimed at avoiding any disruption to inward investment and Britain’s trade.

Can he achieve this? Does he want to? Extreme anti-EU ideologues want a full rupture of trade, foreign direct investment, the end of the City of London to continue under EU rules to be the Wall Street of Europe and the abolition of the rights of Britons to live and work in Europe.

Historically British politics has never been extreme and rarely very ideological. After nearly four years of Brexit Stürm und Drang, can older British traditions or pragmatism and compromise re-emerge?

In the general election, 43.6 per cent of voters supported the “Get Brexit Done” mantra of the prime minister; 50.2 per cent preferred the moderate option of a second consultation to confirm or revisit the decision to leave Europe.

That debate is over. At the end of 2020, the United Kingdom will be neither in the European heaven of EU integration – still desired by a narrow majority of the voters, if not MPs – nor in the EU hell of amputation, begging Donald Trump to be allowed to import hormone modified beef or chickens washed in chorine. We are of course not heading towards a glorious post-European future, but neither is becoming a bigger Norway such a nightmare.

2020 is when Boris Johnson has to take some real Brexit decisions. Winning a populist plebiscite and then defeating the unelectable Jeremy Corbyn has been the easy part.

Denis MacShane is the former minister of Europe and author of ‘Brexiternity. The Uncertain Fate of Britain’